1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an occupant protection apparatus for protecting an occupant when the knee load of the occupant is inputted to an instrument panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle is equipped with seat belts and air bags for protecting the chests and heads of occupants at the time of collision or knee protectors for protecting the knees of the occupants at the time of collision. JP-UM-A-6-37010 discloses a technique as a related art of knee protectors.
In the related art, arms and brackets are mounted on an instrument panel beam that is mounted on a vehicle body side. Furthermore, an upper reinforcement member, which faces a glove box, is attached to a distal end of the arm. In addition, a lower reinforcement member is attached to a lower end of the bracket. The upper reinforcement member, the brackets (side reinforcement members) and the lower reinforcement member constitute a structure which faces annularly a circumferential edge of an opening in the instrument panel, and these reinforcement members are constructed so as to buckle to deform when the knees of an occupant collide against a lid of the glove box.
In the related art, however, a load applied to the lid of the glove box needs to be absorbed by a number of members such as the upper reinforcement member, the brackets (side reinforcement members) and the lower reinforcement member. Consequently, work is needed for arranging all the members in the interior of the instrument panel behind the glove box. In addition, man-hours for fabricating the individual members are needed, and managing the quality of each member is needed as well.